Legacy
by Virtumonde
Summary: "Mercury, I know this is short notice, but before you do anything else, I need you to go and subdue the TRON program... the upgrade went horribly wrong..."
1. Prologue: You-Know-Who

Digitization had become a common practice within the past few User years. Their technology-and, subsequently, that of the Programs-had allowed for this to be possible. Mercury was reflecting on this concept as an announcement echoed throughout her sector:

"Caution: there is a rogue malicious Program running loose in the System. Designation and identification unknown. Function is deresolution. In order to ensure the safety of all, we ask that all Programs report to their shelters and securely lock them, and all Users please report to your respective I/O bases and return to your World. This is a temporary inconvenience, and we apologize for any problems caused by this small issue. You will be notified when it is safe to return. Again, all Programs to your designated shelters, and all Users exit the System as soon as convenient. Thank you."

Mercury couldn't say she remembered a time when Users were completely separate from their Programs. She had only been written recently, and therefore this was the System she knew. Programs and Users were now beginning to interact face-to-face, instead of only using the I/O towers of old. It was a fairly new concept, but in situations like these, Mercury knew they could also be dangerous.

The I/O port nearby buzzed, and Mercury was notified that the incoming message was for her. She checked in and was surprised to see who had wanted to speak with her.

"Alan One," she whispered, still bewildered by the fact that he had insisted on communicating with her, despite the current circumstances. Nonetheless, she continued, "At your command, Alan One."

"That announcement meant nothing good," Alan One observed, before continuing, "I'm just here to check out a network problem that I couldn't figure out on the outside. However, it seems as though we have bigger problems."

"With all due respect, Alan One," Mercury commented, "your own safety comes first. I would suggest the network problem can wait, at least until... until you-know-who is back in his cage."

"You can take care of that, though, if it comes down to it," Alan One replied. "That's why I'd like you to cover my back in case anything happens. You've dealt with him before, after all. The first time."

Mercury frowned. "He's stayed locked up for this long. Again, I'm asking you to consider waiting. If it helps, I'll look at the network problem while you get to safety."

"I'd appreciate it, Mercury, but we're going together. You might think it can wait, but it's just as big of a problem outside as it is inside. Besides, with our talent, it'll be quick. You know I don't like to come in here and not get anything done."

Mercury reluctantly nodded. "Just like..." she started, but she cut herself off. This was not the time to be talking about... him.

"Just consider it," Alan One insisted, and Mercury couldn't help smiling back when he gave her a calm smile. However, both smiles disappeared when a disturbing noise came from Alan One's end of the transmission.

"What was that?" Mercury asked.

"It's probably a... " Alan One started, before another noise cut him off, this one clearly a... growl.

"Alan One, I politely suggest you get out of there immediately," Mercury interjected frantically.

However, Alan One wasn't listening. He was looking in the direction of what Mercury could only assume was the source of the noise.

"Oh, my g... Is that...?! T...?!" Alan One stuttered, before he jumped out of Mercury's view so she could only hear his yelling and screaming, and the familiar growls that accompanied it. She desperately called out to him for further directions, but not long after the commotion, there was only silence, and then static on the transmission.


	2. The Legacy Code

-One year earlier-

The upgrade was almost done. Alan felt immensely proud of himself as he looked over the code he had finally compiled together. This was going to help Tron immensely, especially with how the structure of the system was starting to change. Digitation technology was getting more and more consistent, and although Alan had first been skeptical of Flynn's story, he found himself thanking his friend for the advent of human digitation, an ENCOM exclusive. Still in its experimental stages, not likely to be publicly available until the late 2020's, Flynn had predicted. If Flynn's story was anything to go by, ENCOM needed that time to be sure everything was safe before a non-company member was allowed into the computer (_more literally than he would ever dream_, Alan thought with a wry smile.)

Had he ever been digitized before? No, not yet. The laser was still being tweaked; only so many people could go in at a time, and with the destruction of the MCP, the primary brain of the laser, back in 1982, reconstruction had been difficult, even perilous (Alan took a moment to reflect about Lora with a wistful sigh).

Nonetheless, those who were going to be digitized required a protector. Tron had been inactive for a while, and somehow, Alan knew that his program was getting antsy. If he could modify Tron so that he would be accustomed to the presence of Users in the System and fight any threats to them . . . that would be a huge asset to the project.

_Tron_Legacy._ That was what the upgrade was called.

Alan brought up his program and loaded the upgrade. _There we go._ Everything seemed to be running smoothly . . .

. . . until a series of errors flooded his screen.

**WARNING: PROGRAM MALFUNCTION IMMINENT**

**AUTHORIZED SHIFT OF PROGRAM FUNCTION: Y/N**

**PREVIOUS FUNCTION: SECURITY OF SYSTEM, ELIMINATE ALL UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAMS**

**CURRENT FUNCTION: SECURITY OF SYSTEM, ELIMINATE ALL PROGRAMS OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN**

Alan panicked. He desperately tried to undo the changes but could not figure out how to do so.

_Oh, God . . ._

**PROGRAM MALFUNCTION IMMINENT**

**FUNCTION: DESTRUCTION OF ALL PROGRAMS OF UNKNOWN/OUTSIDE ORIGIN**

There must have been a bug in the code or something, something that Alan must have overlooked or typed in incorrectly. This wasn't good. He couldn't submit this . . .

**UPGRADE LOADING**

**LOADING**

**LOADING**

**UPGRADE COMPLETE**

**TRON 2.0**

**SYSTEM SECURITY**

**AUTOMATIC SEARCH-AND-DESTROY CAPABILITIES**

**TO INPUT COMMAND, PRESS...**

The messages were gone. Alan's screen was black.

* * *

The next day, many of the technicians were gathered in the laser lab, and Alan, fearing the worst, went to see what was wrong as well.

As Alan had dreaded, a lone scientist, surrounded by people attempting to comfort him, quivered wide-eyed, muttering under his breath.

"Abandon the project . . . _abandon the project!_" he exclaimed.

"What's wrong, Jeffries? And where's Mayle?" one of the bystanders asked.

"Went inside . . . maintenance . . . suddenly . . . this thing . . . beast . . . monster . . . comes out . . . must've been . . . ten feet . . . I escaped . . . barely, but . . . Mayle . . . _Ohhhhh_ . . ."

Jeffries froze for a brief moment, as if he saw the beast again, before he fainted. While some of the technicians were calling emergency care, Alan thought about what this meant for the project. Jeffries didn't need to say anything else. Dr. Mayle was dead, or at least trapped in the system. Unless there was a way to keep future occurrences like this from happening, there was only one thing to do.

_I started this. Now, I'm going to end it. _


End file.
